Cameron Walker—National Monuments of the U.S.A.

NATIONAL MONUMENTS OF THE U.S.A.
Cameron Walker (NASW Member), Illustrator: Chris Turnham
Wide Eyed Editions, June 13, 2023, $30
ISBN-13: 978-0711265493
Audience: Readers ages 6-10 and their families

Walker reports:

I’d been trying to write a book for years, and had talked to a bunch of agents and a handful of editors along the way. People were usually encouraging, but nothing quite panned out. Then, in March 2020, an editor from Quarto, a UK-based children’s book publisher, emailed me after receiving a referral from a friend and former colleague at Outside Magazine, Kate Siber. Kate wrote the first book in this series, National Parks of the U.S.A. I was really excited. Then the pandemic began, and everything went on hold for six months.

Once I started researching the national monuments, I realized how much I didn’t know about them. I loved talking with experts on these protected areas about the land, plants, animals, and history unique to each of the 130+ national monuments. I spoke with rangers and education specialists from federal agencies, members of local conservation groups, and people in Indigenous nations whose ancestors were the first to live on the land that now makes up the national monuments.

What I didn’t know before writing this book was how many peaks and valleys I’d experience in the writing process, even in a book aimed at young readers. The national monuments touch on many different aspects of and challenges to our country. While I was comfortable writing about the science and scenery, I really felt the weight of writing about the history of the national monuments accurately and compassionately. (Thank you to those science writers in Memphis who listened to my worries about this!) I also didn’t know how much fun it would be to work with an illustrator. Chris Turnham’s beautiful illustrations make this book come alive.

My advice: recognize that things might not happen the way you plan or on the timeline you had in mind. That seems to be part of the adventure of writing a book!

Contact info:

• Cameron Walker 805-729-5940, cameron@cameronwalker.net, https://cameronwalker.net/, @applepieandink
• Book: https://www.quarto.com/books/9780711265493/national-monuments-of-the-usa
• Publicist: Angela Corpus, angela.corpus@quartopress.com

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Banner image adapted from original photo by Cameron Walker.

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